Made-in-Mass. shades shine on ‘Baywatch’

Chris Morris for The Boston Globe

Zac Efron

June 12, 2017

Some things just don’t go out of style, like a great pair of sunglasses or a cool dip in the ocean on a hot summer day. Another thing that never seems to wane? Americans’ interest in the dramatic interplay between lifeguards on the beaches of Los Angeles. How else to explain the recent silver screen reboot of the “Baywatch” franchise, which features Zac Efron as a disgraced Olympic swimmer who turns to lifesaving to salvage his career? (Any resemblance to the parallel storyline of Olympian Ryan Lochte is purely coincidental, Efron says.)

That sun is bright up there on the lifeguard stand, even when the beach is a movie set. So when Efron bounds across the sand in his bright red swim trunks in the movie, the actor is sporting a pair of shades made in Massachusetts.

The $180 sunglasses were made by Randolph, a 45-year-old company that has outfitted military pilots for more than three decades. The company learned that a Hollywood prop master was interested in using its glasses last year and sent over multiple pairs for the stars to choose from. Efron landed on a pair of 23-karat gold aviator frames with smoky gray lenses, which surely turned the heads of the legion of fan girls who have watched his every move since his “High School Musical” days. He was even caught wearing them when he wasn’t on set.

“We’ve seen pictures of him taken by the paparazzi in the streets of L.A.,” said Peter Waszkiewicz, Randolph’s chief executive, whose father started the company in 1972. “He’s obviously a fan.”

Apparently Efron’s costar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has also grown fond of the brand and has asked to wear them in his next film, Waszkiewicz said. If he does, he’ll be one of many celebs to sport the shades. The growing list includes Amy Adams, Tom Cruise, and Michael Keaton, who wore a pair to the 2016 Oscars to celebrate the Best Picture win for “Spotlight,” which depicted The Boston Globe’s investigative team.

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first “Baywatch” reboot. The original television show premiered in 1989 but canceled by NBC after one season. It developed a cult following, nonetheless, that made not only
David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson household names, but eventually prompted a TV remake, filmed in Hawaii.

Should the next reboot land on Cape Cod, we know who the set designers are likely to call. — JANELLE NANOS

Loaning workers to the T

The MBTA wants to improve its human resources. And Boston’s business community is interested in helping. Last week, the T’s governing board voted to develop regulations that would start a program allowing companies to lend the T employees for short periods of time.

The T is also moving forward with a program to collect money donated by business groups that would help pay for recruiting and training programs.

The state’s transportation secretary, Stephanie Pollack, said travel and relocation costs are the types of uses for the funds, but the state will need policies to guard against conflicts of interest.

So who’s providing the money? Some of Boston’s biggest business leaders are interested.

John Fish, chief executive of Suffolk Construction, is coordinating the effort for the CEO collective Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. Jim Rooney at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is also involved. Fish said he hopes business groups can raise a total of $500,000 for the fund.

Their levels of enthusiasm may differ, however. Fish sees the fund as something that could exist for years, and perhaps even be extended to other government agencies that are crucial for business. “If this works, why wouldn’t we continue it?” he said. Rooney, though, has another idea. “Anything we did should be short-term or interim, because the T really needs to establish a long-term plan and strategy,” he said.

Longer-term, Rooney said, the state’s transportation systems may require greater public funding. “How that takes place is a conversation we should have,” he said. — ADAM VACCARO

Health care goes digital

Former Apple CEO John Sculley, who had a famously hot-and-cold relationship with Apple founder Steve Jobs, says the next multibillion-dollar opportunity to change the world is in digital health care.

Sculley has surfaced as chief marketing officer at the Southborough startup RxAdvance, a cloud-based software company where he is working with founder and CEO Ravi Ika to disrupt the giant industry of managing pharmacy benefits.

“It’s the first time since I left Apple that I took a management position at a company because it’s the most interesting thing I’ve seen since Apple,” said Sculley, who has also advised companies and served on boards. He recently stepped down as a director at Boston-based Flex Pharma, founded by his friend Christoph Westphal.

Sculley, who lives in Palm Beach, Fla., and New York, mostly works remotely for RxAdvance. The fast-growing private company is expected to ring up sales of $500 million this year, up from $50 million in 2016. Next year, its revenue could top $1 billion, he said.

The idea of moving from technology to health care came during the annual “big boys’ camp” Sculley attends on an island off the coast of Camden, Maine. Serial entrepreneur Bob Metcalfe, a friend from his Silicon Valley days who runs the camp, told him, “John, you have to reinvent yourself every 10 years,” Sculley recalled. “So I’m reinventing myself in health care,” he said. — ROBERT WEISMAN

Honoring a matriarch

Any mother of nine children deserves an award, but this week Alma Wahlberg, the Dorchester-born matriarch of the clan that includes actors Mark and Donnie Wahlberg, will get her due.

Bay Cove Human Services
will honor Mama Wahlberg at its “Changing Lives Gala” Wednesday at the Seaport Hotel. The agency serves people with developmental disabilities and offers mental health and addiction treatment services, as well as the Meals on Wheels program in Boston.

“It’s an opportunity to honor Alma. She’s held things together through a whole lot of challenges and raised kids with a number of accomplishments, and not just the famous ones,” Bay Cove CEO Bill Sprague said.

For example, youngest son Mark, the former Marky Mark, was addicted to cocaine and other substances as a teen. Today, he is an Oscar-nominated actor, father of four, and devout Catholic.

Alma Wahlberg, who is in her 70s, has also had a slice of fame: She is a cast member on the A&E reality TV show “Wahlburgers,” which has been described as “Dorchester meets the Kardashians.”

The dinner menu will be designed by another son, Paul Wahlberg, executive chef at Alma Nove restaurant in Hingham — named for his Mom — and Wahlburgers restaurants. — MEGAN WOOLHOUSE